“You know what? You’re right!”
“Of course I am,” he said smiling. “It’s pretty hot when a girl is confident, natural and loves sports. A girl like that tops all those silly girly girls. Just don’t tell Marissa Lou I said that.” He bumped her shoulder with his, then stood up and reached his hand down to her. “So come on. Don’t give that jerk the satisfaction, besides, we still have work to do.”
She placed her hand in his and stood up. “Thanks, Daniel. I really appreciate this.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
“Friends? Do you realize we’ve gone to school together our whole lives and you happen to be dating one of my best friends, and this is the most we’ve ever talked? I never even paid enough attention to know what color your eyes were before now.”
He thought about it for a minute, but he knew she was right. “Well then, we are friends now. If you want to be, of course.” He didn’t know her eyes color either. It never occurred him to look. Until now that is; deep blue and really intense.
She paused for effect with a serious look on her face as if she were pondering the idea before responding. “Yeah, I guess that’ll be all right. But just so you know, if you lose any games this season and make us cheerleaders look bad, I will disown you.”
He laughed, “I’ll try, but there’s no guarantees.”
“That works for me.” She stuck her hand out to shake on it.
He laughed again and slapped his hand in hers. “You can’t just take my word for it?”
“Nope, we gotta win some games.”
“Hey y’all.”
They both turned quickly at the sound of a familiar voice.
“What are y’all doing in here?” Marissa Lou asked. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared between them, noticing the hand in the cookie jar look on their faces.
“Hey, babe,” Daniel said quickly dropping Katie’s hand and walking up to her. He wrapped his arms around her for a hug and kissed the side of her head. She didn’t hug him back, but instead she kept staring at Katie.
“This jerk came in here and pissed me off. You wouldn’t believe the stuff he was saying,” Katie said quickly, once she was able to speak. She knew she didn’t do anything wrong, but the look on Marissa Lou’s face made her feel like she did.
“Yeah, I was just coming back here to check on her.”
Marissa Lou pried her eyes off Katie and stared at him skeptically. He gave her a goofy grin, which made her instantly soften and smile.
“How did you get back here anyway? You’re not exactly allowed behind the counter. Was there no one up front to stop you?”
“I didn’t see anyone,” she said simply. “I just wanted to come and show support for Katie’s first day. Jess and Becca are here too. When I couldn’t find anyone up front I decided to jump the counter to find you. Sorry,” she whispered.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and began to guide her away. “It’s okay, babe. Let me sneak you back up front though so I don’t get into trouble.”
A moment later Katie regained her composure and followed after them.
Chapter 6
A few weeks later, the roar of the crowd filled the night sky as Daniel caught the football from the lineman that Daniel had just thrown it to. Daniel was the quarterback so it wasn’t really his job to carry the ball down the field, but the moment it touched his hands again he didn’t think, not even to wonder if Matt was okay, he just ran. He clutched the ball tight to his chest and threw his free hand out to push away on coming players from the opposing team who wanted to steal it away. It was the final play of the game, with just thirty seconds left, and they were down by four. Everything depended on this one moment. He veered to the left, skirting the side of the field, passing his screaming team mates, fans and cheerleaders as he did.
“Oh my gawd, he’s going all the freaking way!” Marissa Lou yelled in awe as Daniel passed them to run the entire length of the field.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other cheerleaders looked between him and Marissa Lou, lost as to what to do. But in excitement, Marissa Lou must have given up on any hopes of a cheer and began jumping up and down, clapping her pom-poms together and screaming for him to go. Watching her, the other girls followed suit and chaos ensued.
Fifty, forty, thirty, the lines were flying by and though Daniel’s legs were numb and his lungs ached for a break, he refused to stop. It confused him when the crowd grew quieter, making him wonder if someone was on his tail. Begrudgingly, he looked behind him, but there was no one there.
Suddenly noise broke out again, it wasn’t a roaring blast of random words like before, but a unified chant; “ten, nine, eight…” They were all quiet in shock, but now they were counting down with the clock.
Time was running out and he still had a couple yards left to go. Before the word “one” left their mouths Daniel pushed with everything left in his tired body and leapt in the air, the ball extended as far as it would reach in front of him. He didn’t know how long he had been airborne, but it felt like the world had slowed down in that moment, cascading him in the air before slamming onto the hard ground. He laid there for a moment, too scared to see if he made it or not. Even if he wanted to look, he didn’t think he could. His body hurt, his breath was rapid and he felt dizzy from all that had just happened. His pounding heart was the only sound he could hear. Finally, he released the ball from his tight grip, rolled onto his back and unlatched the chin strap on his helmet. He closed his eyes, preparing himself to hear the disappointment in the crowd because he didn’t make his mark. It would hurt his feelings, but that’s all a part of the game. It seemed like everything happened very quickly when he felt someone crash on top of him, crushing what was left of the air in his lungs.
“Jesus!” he yelled. He had hoped he did enough to not get hit, and being as he was down that was surely a penalty, at least he had that to be happy about. It still hurt like hell though because football players weren’t usually small guys.
He opened his eyes to find Jack, the tight end on his team, inches from his face. He grabbed a hold of Daniel’s helmet and brought his face up, smashing it into the front of his own helmet and yelled, “You freaking beast! You did it!”
Daniel stared at him confused for a split second before his words sunk in. “I did?”
“Hell yeah, you did,” he yelled, then jumped up to his feet, pulling Daniel up with him making him even dizzier.
Once he regained composer, Daniel took his helmet off and looked around and saw every single person in the stands standing up and clapping. The roar was deafening, even to his blown eardrums. That game would be the one people will talk about for years to come and he was honored to be the star.
“Hey, babe, you did great tonight,” Marissa Lou said rushing up to Daniel once he got close to the side line, throwing herself at him and giving him a big hug.
Daniel knew she was so excited that she hadn’t even thought about all the sweat pouring off him, but when she did, she pulled back just as quickly wiping sticky sweat off her arms.
“Thanks, I do try.”
“I can tell. You guys have won the past two games. Keep it up and we just may get to the playoffs this year.”
“That would be a great way to end the year, for sure. Especially since this will be my last chance to do it.”
“I have no doubts,” she said proudly. She grabbed his hand and they began to walk toward the gym so they could change out of their game gear. “So what do we have going on tonight? Any parties to celebrate the win? You aren’t working tonight, right?”
“No, no work.” He wiped fallen sweat off his brow and shrugged his shoulders. He was still reeling from the game, and though he hadn’t thought about it before, a party was exactly what he needed to top off the night. “As far as a party, I’m sure we could find one.”
She stopped and turned to face him. With her arms wrapped around his neck, obviously not caring about the gross sweat anym
ore, she pressed her lips to his. “I’m so happy to hear that. It seems like I haven’t seen you much in the past few weeks.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy between school, football and work. Hopefully it’ll calm down soon,” he said brushing back a blonde strand of hair that escaped her ponytail.
“Hey, Katie, are you working tonight?” Marissa Lou called out, spotting Katie coming out of the gym in regular clothes and her gym bag slung over her shoulder.
Katie walked up to the pair smiling wide. “Nope, I’m free for the night. Why, what’s up?”
“I think we should find a party. The team had an epic win and my baby was the star, so I have no doubt there will be one somewhere. We can call the girls and have them meet us too.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said to Marissa Lou before turning to Daniel with a knowing smile. “Two in a row, nice job.”
“Thanks,” he said staring into her eyes causing her to blush. Marissa didn’t appear to notice. After a moment he pried himself away from her stare. “How about I go check with the guys in the locker room about a party,” Daniel said detangling Marissa Lou’s arms from around his neck and walked away without saying another word.
* * *
They stared after him for a minute before Marissa Lou spoke, “He has been a strange bird lately.”
“Hmm,” Katie said staring after him.
* * *
Everyone watched Marissa Lou as usual, as she stood on top of the massive rock on the edge of the wooden border separating the water from the land. Her perfectly toned body clad in only a bra and panties shimmered in the moon light. With the rope swing in hand, she bounced as she yelled excitedly, “1…2…3…” and squealed as she pushed off the rock and swung over the water’s surface as far as the rope would extend before letting go and plummeting into the dark warm river causing people to hoot, holler and whistle.
“This party is off the chain,” Becca said, sitting on the tailgate of a Matt’s truck, holding out a pair of clothes as a giggling Marissa Lou walked up to her, wet but happy.
“I knew we’d be able to find a good one tonight,” Marissa Lou said, taking the clothes from her and smiling proudly as she slipped them on, although she left her button up shirt wide open, exposing the wet bra underneath. “Matt throws the best parties and he never excludes anyone in the invites. I was stoked when Daniel told me. Speaking of friends, where did Katie and Jess go?”
“Beats me. Last I saw of Katie was after I got here and Jess was heading toward the house to use the bathroom a few minutes ago. I’m sure they’ll turn up eventually.”
Marissa Lou scanned her surroundings looking for her friends. It was really dark out, but the bonfire was blazing in the night, making the beach around them visible. Matt’s house backed up to the beach so it was always possible that either one had gone there. Daniel wasn’t anywhere to be seen either and she secretly wondered if he and Katie were somewhere together.
“There’s Katie,” Becca said pointing at the spot where the keg was cloaked in darkness so Matt’s parents wouldn’t see it.
With a red plastic cup in hand, Katie mindlessly made her way toward Marissa Lou and Becca.
“Hey you, we were looking for you,” Becca said to her once she was close.
“Oh, sorry. I was walking up and down the beach.”
“Did you see me swing?” Marissa Lou asked, turning to point toward the rock.
“No, I guess not,” Katie said, looking at Marissa Lou as if she had just noticed that she was half naked and dripping wet, although Marissa Lou knew it didn’t really surprise her.
They all knew she was fearless and usually the center of attention, whether it was intentional or not. She just couldn’t help it. Marissa Lou knew it was something Katie found both endearing and annoying about her, as she’d said so many times before.
“Is everything okay?” Marissa Lou asked Katie noticing the look on her face.
“Oh yeah. I’m great,” Katie said, trying to sound chipper before putting the cup to her lips.
Marissa Lou stared at her quizzically, but before she had a chance to dig a little deeper into Katie’s apparent melancholy, Becca began jumping up and down.
“I freaking love this song. Come on, let’s dance.” She grabbed Marissa Lou’s hand, which in turn made Marissa Lou grab Katie, pulling the friends close to Matt’s truck where the radio was blaring.
The song only lasted for a minute before a new song came on the radio, but neither Katie nor Marissa Lou seemed to notice until Becca’s outburst of excitement. “Oh my gawd! This song is even better.”
She pulled at Marissa Lou again, who in turned pulled at Katie again. All three girls made their way a few feet away from the truck to a spot a little clearer and began to dance again, along with a few other people.
“Bec, are you going to say that about every song that comes on?” Katie asked lightening up and even laughing out, which made Marissa Lou and Becca happy that their friend was smiling again.
“Maybe,” she said turning up her nose.
“Yeah, Katie, you know there’s always a possibility when it comes to this one. She’s special like that.”
* * *
Katie felt someone put their hand around her waist causing her to spin around in shock. When she did, she was surprised to see Jeff Daily, Matt’s older brother, standing in front of her. He was a year ahead of her in school and one of the hottest guys she’d ever seen with almost black hair and the clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen. She had dreamed of this scenario since the first time she saw him her freshman year of high school. He was captain of the football team and homecoming king two years running, up until he graduated last year. Yet here he was so close she could feel the warmth of his breath, and with his hand around her back pressing her body to his and dancing with her.
“Hey, you want to go for a walk?” He bent and whispered into her ear after a few minutes.
Speechless, she nodded her head ‘yes’.
He grabbed her hand and led her away from the crowd, but when she turned back toward her friends they were both smiling wide and giving her an approved thumbs up. She blushed and mouthed, “Oh my god!” then quickly looked away.
“I am surprised to see you here. I thought you were in college at ECU,” she said shyly once they were away from the party.
“I am, but it’s only an hour away. I come home a lot to see family and friends. Mattie told me about the party so I decided to check it out for old times’ sake. I’m glad I did.”
She looked up at him with her heart pounding a million miles per minute and was shocked once again to find him staring at her, smiling. “I’m glad you came too,” she said looking away blushing.
He stopped and spun her around to face him. Dizzy from the spin, she grasped his hand tightly, but he didn’t miss a beat. He immediately crushed his lips to her. She hadn’t expected that, not any of it, so it was astonishing and she wasn’t sure how to react. She quickly wiggled her hand out of his and slightly pushed him back.
“Wait, what are you doing?” she asked breathless.
“What does it look like?” he said putting both hands on the small of her back and forcefully bringing her close to him again.
That time she relaxed some and allowed him to take control. She’d only had a few boyfriends in her life, none which were serious, so kissing wasn’t something she did often, but it was obvious that Jeff did. She followed his lead by closing her eyes and opening her mouth, then moved her tongue around awkwardly. Her eyes shot wide open when she felt his hand slip down from the small of her back to grasp her butt. Without breaking away from his lips she reached around and brought his hand back up to her waist, but it didn’t last long before it slid back down, except this time he was grasping it tightly.
“Okay, I think that’s far enough,” she said laughing slightly and putting a hand on his chest for some sort of composure.
“Come on, you know you want to,” he said kissing her nec
k.
With both hands on his chest she pushed him back, that time she didn’t laugh. “No! I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen.”
“Don’t be such a tease,” he said grabbing for her hand to pull her back toward him, but she quickly shook it away.
She then took a step back, astonished about his candor. She had crushed on him, hard, for the past four years, but that was quickly fading. Especially since he was the second boy in a month’s time to call her a tease. “I said no!”
“Fine! High school girls are such a waste,” he said turning away from her.
“Then why are you trying so hard to hook up with one?” she asked annoyed.
“Whatever. I’m just sorry I wasted my time, but the night’s still young,” he called over his shoulder and left her standing on the beach alone while he rejoined the party.
Feeling a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment she walked a little further down the beach before stopping and sitting down on the sand. The riverfront breeze was blowing hard like usual, causing chills to run through her, but she didn’t care. She felt like an idiot and wasn’t ready to go back to the party and face her friends, or Jeff.
“Hey, there you are.”
Katie gasped and jumped at the sound of the voice. “Daniel, you scared the crap out of me,” she said holding her chest.
“I’m sorry. I hope I’m not intruding. Marissa Lou told me you disappeared with Jeff Daily. She made it seem, I don’t know, dramatic, but in a good way. I was worried about you.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that?”
“No, really.”
“Good,” he said sitting down beside her. “I’ve known Jeff for a long time and he isn’t exactly a stand up guy.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) Page 3